Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-09-16
The Invention of Pr;n,;,

Before the middle Of tho .,
century Europe had cbe sue III MI
paper; an oily ink, develona1g =, la
book printing, in place of tb H. ' a.,
which could be used onlr ' III, lla
brush; probably the press itso, w.t.
artisans, trained in the ''I Ill.,;
work; most important Of al Iot y
mand caused by education. i
movable types that could !,
evenly and readily together, ta "
the porcelain letters of Pi.CMls
the individual stamps Of tba
copyists had developed to H. H.
"The invention of printing NY
modern sense consisted in h.
production of such types, o. S
Winnie puts it, of the type-moli
should produce such tyres
cities claim to be the birtbn1
printing, but the honor rests T.
HARLEM, Strasburg, and Mann
Dutch legend is that some tims
or previous to 144O one i
Janszoon Roster, custos or sevtol
church in Harlem, while in the
or HARLEM wood, cut letter,
beech tree, which suggested I
wooden types, from which he afts|
developed metal types; and that |
in his employ, escaping with the
to Mainz, originated the art
HARLEM contains many portraits
ments of Roster, and belief in J
an article of the Dutch faith. bu|
Investigators claim that he n
gether q myth, made up, with
imagination and some rascalitv,
HARLEM citizens, neither of who|
q printer, and of the emil
printer" of much later DAYS.
The German story centers il
Gutenberg, Of the family called
tleisch-- taking his mothers nal
accordance with a German custo|
cause her family was dying out
whom there is a definite hisI
chain of evidence, including til
ords Of two law suits. Nothing
tainly known Of his first thirty
He is supposed to have been bonn
1899, at Maiuz, whence his famlv
eXiled. going to Strasburc. In
he appears as a defendant in !
brought in Strasburg by an heid
| Andrew Dritzehen, to compel
berg to admit him to the seal
benefit of an art into which A
ceased had bought by payne
Gutenberg. This art seems to
been printing, and the evidence
suit shows that Gutenberg SCI
servant to Dritzehen's house, inj
atcly on his death, to have "icr|
"four pieces" "lying in op all
press" separated "by turning tvo|
tons, +" $50 that no one might know
it is" We do not know, for Gute|
won the suit and kept the 4
Different modern scholars constru|
to be parts of the press, pages Of
matrices, or four-part type.ll
such as is known to have been US
early pri-ters. It is not def|
known whether Gutenberg printe|
books in Strasburg (some fragme|
a type Donata,s being most play
connected with him there,
caused o German critic to declare
if Strasburg is the cradle Of pn]
ut is a cradle without q baby.
144S Gutenberg had removed to \
for there is record of his hiring d
and in 1850 he made contract
John Fust, a money-lender, to p
money for paper, vellum, ink. !
and the other materials required
half-profits, which contract wa
basis Of the second suit. In TINS
brought in 1855, Fust, who has
sadly confused with that late1
Faust, of Wittenberg, from
wicked learning grew the Faust Il
foreclosed his mortgage, got poS3
Of part of Gutenberg's implemeal!
stock, and by help of GutenbeEs|
prentice. Peter Schoet1er, who
ward married Fust's daughter UNI
took up the business OF pl7
There is q legend that this s ;,
and not Gutenberg, invented tic
mould, but recent investigators
that this invention was pe'I
Gutenberg's. -R. II. .Bowher' |"
per's Magazine.